Lions like to hunt in packs, which increases their chances of successfully hunting down and killing prey.

One lion scares the prey into the path of another hidden lion, whose task is to grasp the prey by the neck and suffocate it to death.

The same can be said about the forwards of the Penn State men's rugby team; if they work together as a team, they are able to overcome bigger and stronger opponents, but if they try to do things individually, they are more likely to crumple into the dust.

"It depends on the support you give each other," loose forward Jason Fisher said. "To play well as a pack, every individual has to trust one another."

Last year, the strength of the Ruggers' side was the forwards, who although undersized, never let it count and in most cases dominated their opponents. They rucked, mauled and terrorized opposing forwards, getting quick balls for the backs.

Part of the reason for this ability to dominate was the team's former captain and standout, Kirk Neubauer, who throughout his career played at a high level consistently. He graduated last season, but don't expect the Ruggers forwards play to go down a level.

In fact, expect to see forwards that have a renewed passion and a desire to better the season that they had last season. Returning players such as Fisher and prop Michael Mcgeachy are part of the reason for this.

"I think a lot of us are pissed off
from last year," Fisher said. "We realized that we can't just turn off and on for a game."

Penn State forwards coach Don Ferrell says that this year's Ruggers' forwards are very athletic and together have the chance to develop into a formidable pack.

"We are a young group with the possibility to be very strong," he said.

The possibility for the Ruggers forwards to be strong lies with the incoming freshmen.

The forwards will be aware of the problems that the backs had last year, when they had a couple new players, sometimes playing new positions, which led to a lot of miscommunication and dropped passes.

This was part of the reason that the Ruggers did not go as far as they would have liked in the playoffs.

Ferrell does not feel that this bad luck will strike twice in this case.

He said that although the forwards have many incoming freshmen, the forwards still have valuable experience and leadership such as Mcgeachy, Fisher and Brent Ilgen.

"We are inevitably strong," Ferrell said, "because we have many experienced players coming back."

These players, especially Fisher and Ilgen, form the part of the backrow that is the strength of the forwards.

"We have the potential to become a very strong pack," Fisher said. "But it depends on our discipline."

Ferrell also added that the incoming freshmen are good enough to challenge some of the elder players.

The forwards have also had a lot of time to jell. They have been in camp since Aug. 19, and from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1 there was a clinic held for the Ruggers.

"The chemistry is good," Fisher said. "We have all played together before, the only thing we need to work on is our physical presence."

In this clinic, the forwards worked on set pieces, srummaging, lineouts and how to stop a maul.

Fisher said that the Welsh and U.S. coaches also corrected some of the small mistakes and little things that developed into habits for the Ruggers forwards.

Improving on all these facets of the game should be very helpful for the forwards especially against bigger opponents, including perennial powerhouse Navy.

In close games that the Ruggers lost last season, the forwards had to go up against bigger forwards against teams like as Utah, Navy and Army.

This season, although still undersized, the Ruggers have built a strategy to counter this. They will use their speed and conditioning to tire out their opponents.

"Our forwards are technically sound and unpredictable," Ferrell said. "They do well to move around and by the end of the game they have tired the opposition."

So far this has worked for the Ruggers. Last Saturday they beat a physically bigger side in the Barbarians, a rugby club side.

Forwards do not get the glory as often as the backs do or as often as they should, yet they play a major part in the teams success.

They are much like the offensive linemen of football in that they do the dirty work, take the punches and put their bodies on the line, receiving only a pat at the end of the game.

This doesn't bother them.

"I love it," Fisher said. "I used to be a back and there you would get all the glory but you would have no true feeling of what rugby was like."